Quotes about life and death
656 quotes from 337 people
Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.
- AAli599–661Nahj al-Balagha
There is no greater sorrow
Than to be mindful of the happy time
In misery.
Dante Alighieri1265–1321The Divine Comedy (1320), Inferno, Canto V, lines 121-123, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s translation (1867)In contextI’m not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.
Woody Allenborn 1935Without Feathers (1975), “Death (A Play)”.On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily lying down.
Woody Allenborn 1935Without Feathers (1975), “The Early Essays”.It is impossible to experience one’s death objectively and still carry a tune.
Woody Allenborn 1935Getting Even (1971)
Thomas Aquinas1225–1274On The Perfection of the Spiritual Life (1269-1270), Chapter 14
Hannah Arendt1906–1975Love and Saint Augustine (1929), p. 17Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.
Isaac Asimov1920–1992Often credited to Jimi HendrixBy mourning tongues
The death of the poet was kept from his poems.
W. H. Auden1907–1973Another Time (1940)When a just man dies,
Lamentation and praise,
Sorrow and joy, are one.W. H. Auden1907–1973“Elegy for J.F.K.” (22 November 1963)
Aung San Suu Kyiborn 1945In Quest of Democracy (1991)
